Text: Edgar Allan Poe to Unknown — January 10 - April 11, 1846 (LTR-224c)

[. . . .]

The philosophy detailed in the “Last Conversation of a Somnambule,” is my own — original, I mean, with myself, and had long impressed me. I was anxious to introduce it to the world in a manner that should insure for it attention. I thought that by presenting my speculations in a garb of vraisemblance — giving them as revelations — I would secure for them a hearing, and I depended upon what the Popular Record very properly calls the “Magazinish” tone of the article to correct any false impression which might arise in regard to the question of fact or fable. In the case of Valdemar, I was actuated by similar motives, but in this latter paper, I made a more pronounced effort at verisimilitude for the sake of effect. The only material difference between the two articles is, that in one I believe actual truth to be involved; in the other I have aimed at merely suggestion and speculation. I find the Valdemar case universally copied and received as truth , even in spite of my disclaimer. [. . . . ]